<title>U.S. initiatives in the international effort to mitigate the orbital debris environment</title>

Abstract

Following release of the 1989 'Report on Orbital Debris' by the Interagency Group (Space) for the National Security Council, NASA undertook a series of extensive bilateral discussions with the major spacefaring nations on the topic of orbital debris. These discussions led to a greater understanding of both the cause and the effect of orbital debris. As a result of these discussions, the major spacefaring nations have taken definitive steps to redesign their launch vehicles and spacecraft so as to mitigate the production of orbital debris. In 1993 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan formed a multilateral Inter- Agency Orbital Debris Coordination Committee (IADC). Since that time the Russian Space Agency (RSA), the Chines National Space Agency (CNSA), the French National Space Agency (CNES), the British National Space Agency (BNSA), and the Indian Space Agency (ISRO) have jointed the IADC. In 1994 orbital debris discussions began in the United Nations under the auspices of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). In 1995 UNCOPUOS adopted a multi-year program for studying orbital debris. In 1993 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Security Council (NSC) undertook an interagency review to revise and update the 1989 'Report on Orbital Debris.' In November 1995 Dr. John H. Gibbons, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, released the 'Interagency Report on Orbital Debris -- 1995.'© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.